What We Learned – Roundtable Discussion: Marketing & Sales 2019

What We Learned – Roundtable Discussion: Marketing & Sales 2019
WHACC AM Learning Series – Marketing and Sales

This AM series on April 23rd featured guests Paula Skladanowski and Megan Stechler from Heinen’s Grocery Store, Faith Boone from Effective Leadership Academy, Jenn Uren with Contempo Design and Communication, and Peter Mihu from SOS Speedy Office Supply. This dynamic roundtable discussion focused on different strategies, trends, and tips about marketing and sales.

Discussion Overview
A big theme from this event was connection, in online content and customer relationships. For their strategies, both Heinen’s and Contempo focus on creating a content plan or calendar for all the information they intend to send out or post. For Heinen’s, they want to position the company as a storyteller for their clients to get more involved, both digitally and in store. This may include outsourcing content information to get exactly what your customer is searching for. Contempo uses the analytics form sites like LinkedIn to gain that understanding of their customers and saves them time on building a spreadsheet of clients.

Effective Leadership Academy and Speedy Office Supply were big advocates for, and still use,  the word of mouth strategy.  Effective Leadership Academy has two distinct audiences for their business and tries to find ways to connect with both. Their biggest success is through word of mouth because the whole community they engage with understands this concept. Speedy Office Supply focuses their strategy to keeping in touch with their prospects and accounts. This holds the SOS name in front of their clients and on their minds. They suggested using more than one method, both old and new, to expand your reach.

Three Marketing Tips from Our Experts

• First, make the branding on your website match the company. You want to keep things consistent because the website is often the first impression people see.
• Second, use Google reviews! Encourage your clients to leave a review of your business on Google to improve your ranking and get you noticed.
• And third, word of mouth marketing still works. Make connections with your clients with hand written letters, follow ups, and even holding events. Getting your clients engaged builds a relationship and can improve referrals.

Three Marketing Trends You Need to Know!

• First, people are buying online! With the creation of online shopping environments there is a big push for companies to have an online presence through their website and social platforms.
• Which leads to the second trend, different social platforms reach different audiences and have different purposes. Instagram is good for visuals, Twitter is for things happening in the moment, and Facebook often gets the most engagement.
• And the third trend, paid digital targeted marketing will continue in popularity because of big data. But act fast! Right now this advertising is somewhat cheap, but as the popularity and efficiency increases, so may the price.

The Key Takeaway

While Heinen’s, Contempo, Effective Leadership Academy, and Speedy Office Supply have found ways to market that work for them today, they know that new challenges will always come up. The main conclusion from this AM Series is to find what works for your company. What’s best for one, might not work for all. You should focus on the customer. Build connections, and the rest can start from there.